Billionaire bad-boy entrepreneur Mark Cuban's latest investment? A high-end, high-tech potty plug-in that bathes its user's undercarriage with warm water. Oh yeah, it's also wireless-enabled.
It looks vaguely iPod-like. If Apple made it, I think they'd call it an iPooed.
Brondell Inc., developer of the Swash(TM), a revolutionary high-tech toilet seat, announced it has secured $1.3 million of Series A financing from a group of investors including technology visionary Mark Cuban. (…)
Brondell introduced the Swash(TM) in January 2005 to target the luxury
bathroom products market and to help create a better bathroom experience for
American consumers. The Swash is a high-tech toilet seat that provides all of
the hygienic benefits of a traditional bidet, but it is installed on existing
residential toilets. The Swash utilizes two retractable wands to provide a
filtered posterior and feminine warm water wash and has a heated seat and all
functions operate at the push of a button. The Swash 600 model even has a warm
air dryer and wireless remote control.
Link to press release. And voilá, the Swash. (via pho list)
Link to previous posts about Mark Cuban on Boing Boing.
Reader comment: Alex Waters says,
Those toilets you're talking about, with the multiple streams of warm water and the heated seats and the driers, are par for the course in Japan and have been for several years. The most popular brand is made by TOTO, under the name "Washlet". They aren't even particularly super-luxury items – according to Wikipedia, they're in half of Japanese homes, and I've seen them in many public bathrooms too.
You wouldn't think one would get addicted to a toilet, but these things are awesome – the one at my fiance's parents' house has adjustable stream angles, water pressures, and water temperatures, as well as adjustable strength and temperature on the blow dryer. The one at his grandmother's house has push-button seat raising and lowering as well.
Wiki link – scroll down to "Japanese Bidet." And here's TOTO's Washlet website (in English).
